These products are chiefly dependent on low cost and efficient LEDs for rapid data transmission rates. This industry is also referred to as Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) market. The free space optics market is likely to exceed USD 950 million by 2023.

Visible light communication market size was valued around USD 300 million in 2014 and is expected to grow at CAGR of over 90% over the forecast period and exceed USD 10 billion by 2023.

(Visible Light Communication) VLC market technology makes use of light emitting diode as the source which has inherent characteristics of high speed flickering. Thus, it offers dual function of data communication and lighting simultaneously. The technology is cost effective and extensively suitable. This technology do not offer any sort of interference to RF. It also utilizes image sensors and opto-couplers as components and represents a unique industry that has tremendous growth potential over the forecast period.

One of the major factors contributing to growth of visible light communication market is the accessibility of high bandwidth. Visible light offers bandwidth frequency spectrum which is larger than that of radio frequency bandwidth. This result in the space for more than one user and thereby, accomplishing higher transfer rates. As a result, the high bandwidth availability is expected to be the biggest attraction of this technology boosting the global industry growth over the forecast period.

Location-based services (LBS) and target-based advertising coupled with increasing R&D investment are the major driving factor for the global visible light communication market. In addition, higher energy efficiency and biologically safe & negligible interference is also expected to increase the VLC adoption in healthcare sector over the forecast period. It transfers the data at rapid rate as compared to other conventional wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Wimax and Bluetooth which use radio waves for communication.

Non-uniformity in standardization and complexity in simultaneous data transmit and receipt within the same module is anticipated to hamper the demand growth over the forecast period. Difficulty in existing LED lighting upgradation also acts as a challenge to the industry growth. The prospective opportunities to the industry include technological breakthroughs opening in a wide range of applications along with mounting deployment of energy-efficient LED in numerous applications to pave way for the growth of visible light communication market.

The industry can be segmented by end users as connected devices, underwater communication, automobile & transport, retail indoor positioning, hospitality, in-flight infotainment/communications and light-based internet. The industry is segregated on the basis of communication type which consists of unidirectional and bidirectional. In addition, the industry is segmented on the basis of rate of data which include VLC with data rate up to 1 Mb/s (≤ 1 mbps) and VLC with data rate above 1 Mb/s (>1 mbps). Furthermore, the industry is further segmented on the basis of distance, which includes Up To 10 meter and above 10 meter. Moreover, the industry can be further bifurcated on the basis of geography which includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and MEA.

In 2014, retail indoor segment dominated the industry in terms of revenue. The growth in this segment is primarily driven by demand from developed nations such as North America and Europe. North America, including U.S. visible light communication market accounted for about 42% of the total industry revenue in 2014 and estimated to be the largest revenue contributor.

Increasing collaboration among major players with the research institutions for extensive research and development activities is the foremost trend observed in the industry. Correspondingly, the original equipment manufacturers of LED in the VLC industry are focusing on mergers and acquisitions with the developers. These collaborations would help the manufacturers to overcome barriers such as complexity in upgrading existing LED lighting and lack of standardization for the industry.

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